Tag Archives: Kitsap County Board of Commissioners

On Monday county employees
aired their complaints to the Kitsap County Board of
Commissioners about proposed contract terms for 2013 and beyond.
Some took issue with commissioner salaries. They asserted
commissioners continued to take pay increases, even as their own
wages have remained frozen since 2009 due to the county’s economic
woes.

Under state laws, a sitting commissioner cannot reduce his or
her own salary, but the board since 2009 has taken steps to offset
automatic raises for their positions that were established by
earlier resolutions. To clarify, the only time a commissioner can
vote on adjustments to “his or her” own salary in the upcoming
four-year term of office is when he or she is up for
re-election.

All three sitting commissioners (and former commissioner Steve
Bauer) have paid out-of-pocket toward medical benefits that the
county otherwise would have covered. County records show
commissioners have saved the county the following amounts from 2009
through 2011: Charlotte Garrido ($23,202), Josh Brown ($14,206),
Rob Gelder (in 2011, $3,772); Bauer (2009 and 2010, $16,129).

In 2010, the board passed a resolution freezing the position 3
(Central Kitsap) salary in 2011 through 2014 at $112,053 (the 2010
rate). Brown’s first term as CK commissioner ended in 2010, and he
was re-elected, starting a second term in 2011.

In 2011, the board passed two resolutions accepting donations to
the county from District 1 and 2 commissioners (Garrido and Gelder)
in amounts equivalent to the difference between their salaries and
the frozen position 3 salary (Brown’s).

The 2011 resolution was intended to at least partially offset a
resolution passed in 2007 that established the position 1 and 2
salaries from 2009 through 2012. The 2009 amount was $119,064, with
2 percent raises in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Voting for the resolution
were Brown and Bauer. Jan Angel voted against it.

In a
2010 article, I erroneously reported that the district 1 and 2
commissioners would get a 9 percent raise in 2012. The 2012 salary,
$126,353, was nearly 9 percent higher than the initial year’s
salary. But to repeat, the 2012 increase was to have been 2
percent, not 9 percent. I have made a correction to the online
version of the story, and I apologize for the error.

In April this year, with Garrido and Gelder up for re-election,
the board reduced salaries for the district 1 and 2 positions in
2013 and 2014, to bring them in line with the position three salary
of $112,053. The resolution calls for 2 percent increases to the
district 1 and 2 salaries in 2015 and 2016.

The wages of other elected officials, including the assessor,
auditor, clerk, coroner, sheriff, treasurer, prosecutor, have been
frozen since 2009.

Perhaps you’re wondering how salaries for elected officials are
established. Kitsap County in 2003 adopted a method to set their
salaries as a percentage of superior court judges’ salaries, which
are set by the Washington State Citizens Commission on Salaries.
Each position is calculated as a percentage of the judges’
salaries, and resolutions dating from 2005 and 2007 established
salaries under the new system. The commissioners’ percentage is 80
percent. In theory, having a set formulas takes the potential for
politics out of the process.

Wednesday, Oct. 19, 8:30 a.m.: Review agenda
for Oct. 24 meeting until 9:15 a.m. followed by information sharing
until 10 a.m. then budget deliberations until 11:30 a.m. and an
executive session from 11:30 a.m. to noon. Adjournment to
follow.

City of Bremerton (meets at 345 Sixth Street,
Bremerton)

Wednesday, Oct. 19, 5 p.m.: Council briefing
will be upstairs for 30 minutes before the start of the regular
meeting at 5:30 p.m. in council chambers. The one public hearing
item is on the city’s six-year Transportation Improvement Plan;
General business items include: approve payment of $75,000 to the
State of Washington for modifications to the Manette Bridge
Replacement Project to add the city-initiated sidewalk barrier;
approve six construction contracts for the Park Avenue Plaza
Project Phase II: (1) trenching for utilities, phase A; (2)
improvements at Park Avenue & 4th Street intersection; (3)
brick veneer installation; (4) garage steel filter screening; (5)
sewer main lining; and (6) planters on Burwell; Ordinance No. 5166
amending Section 13.04.140 of the Bremerton Municipal Code (BMC)
relating to the sale of beer and wine at the Bremerton Ice Arena;
amendment to Section 4.1.2 “Incidental Uses” of the Concession
Agreement between the city of Bremerton and the Bremerton Ice
Arena, Inc. to allow the sale of beer and wine and Ordinance No.
5165 amending Chapter 9A.44 of the Bremerton Municipal Code (BMC)
to add a new section entitled “Lasers”.

City of Port Orchard (meets at 219 Prospect
Street)

Tuesday, Oct. 18, 7 p.m.: The council has a
work study session tonight but the agenda is not
online.

City of Poulsbo (City Hall, 200 Moe Street)

Wednesday, Oct. 19, 7 p.m.: This week’s
business agenda includes a public hearing on the revenue sources
for the city’s 2012 budget; an ordinance revising the city’s
business licensing; an ordinance revising the city’s fees; and a
legislative initiatives workshop for 2012 led by Mayor Becky
Erickson.

Central Kitsap Community Council

Tuesday, Oct. 19: The council will change their
regular meeting date this month to Tuesday to meet before the
schedule Kitsap County Planning Commission meeting where the
planning commissioners will be reviewing a draft plan for how the
Central Kitsap Community Campus should be developed over time. The
meeting will be held at the county’s admin building before the
group heads into the hearing.

MONDAY
Port Orchard
7 p.m.: The Kitsap County Board of Commissioners will meet at the
county administration building. Notable on the agenda: The board
will honor local civil rights pioneer Lillian Walker, whose
memories are featured as part of The Legacy Project, an oral
history program established by the Office of Secretary of State in
2008. Also on the agenda, the board will consider resolutions:
* establishing an Energy Conservation Committee to develop and
implement a comprehensive energy efficiency and conservation plan
for Kitsap County.
* approving the purchase and sale agreement for the Harborside
Condominium Unit T-102.
* freezing salary rates of elected officials and providing for
self-pay of health care premiums.
* designating Kitsap County as a recovery zone for purposes of
issuing recovery zone economic development bonds under the federal
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.